Village hall installs hearing loop with district council support

A HEARING loop is being installed in Bicknoller Village Hall thanks to financial support from West Somerset Council.
The hall committee has received a grant of £649.35 from the council’s much-praised Rural Initiative Fund to help with the cost of the project, which totalled £865.80.
The loop will help local residents or visitors to the hall listen and take part in community events held in the hall.
The hall can accommodate up to 200 people and also has a committee room with a capacity of 50 people, and is used for a variety of activities including local dramatic productions, meetings of the Women’s Institute, the village flower show, table tennis, charity fund-raising events, and community group activities.
District council ward member, Councillor Barbara Child presented the cheque to hall secretary Mrs Mary Ter Braak.
Councillor Child said: “It gives me great pleasure to support and encourage the initiatives of my parishioners.
“This is yet another successful venture that benefits the community and is a good example of what the Rural Initiative Fund was designed to assist.”
The Rural Initiatives Fund makes available grants of up to £10,000 to help community groups start new initiatives which will benefit residents in rural areas of the district.
It is aimed at voluntary community organisations and parish and town councils, which can qualify for funding by helping the district authority meet its objective of ‘providing a good service to the community’.
More information about the fund is available from the council’s rural facilitator Angela Lamplough on 01984 63531 or email at alamplough@westsomerset.gov.uk.

• Our photograph shows (left to right) Kees ter Braak, Councillor Barbara Child, Clive Raisey, and Mrs Mary ter Braak.
  Photo submitted.

Lottery grant for Vikings to develop basketball for youngsters

NEWLY-formed Minehead Vikings Basketball Club has received a financial windfall from the National Lottery to help it develop the sport in West Somerset.
The club, which is also flying high in the Somerset Basketball League, has won a grant of almost £7,000 from the lottery’s Awards for All fund.
Club founder Alistair Johnson told The Crier the plan was to develop basketball for young people to enjoy, providing them with the self-confidence and skills to follow their interest.
Competitions would also run and training would be provided for members of the club to improve their skills in running the new group.
Mr Johnson said the Vikings was only formed five months ago as part of a Somerset-wide pilot to create satellite basketball clubs based around the established Taunton Tigers team.
He said: “We put in a lottery bid to try to get some funding to help because we do not have that many members, and it is very expensive to hire the hall.
“Basketball is a sport which keeps people active and is good exercise because it is a pretty fast game, not stop-start like some of the others.
“It is also quite easy to play because you really only need to be able to catch a ball and pass it.”
Some of the £6,986 lottery grant will go towards the purchase of playing strip and other equipment, while an electronic scoreboard is also on the list, and the club will also cover the cost of coaching courses for those who want to gain a qualification.
Mr Johnson said: “The more people we can get trained as coaches, the more it helps the younger members.”
Minehead Vikings presently have about 20 members aged from 14 to 51 years and the club trains on Tuesday evenings between 7 pm and 8 pm in the West Somerset Sports Hall, Minehead.
The club has an adult team and an under-16 team in the Somerset League and both have qualified for the play-offs by being in the top four positions.
There are also plans to set up under-14 and under-12 teams.
Anybody interested in joining the club should contact Alistair Johnson by telephoning 01823 365709.
Awards for All is a small grants scheme administered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of lottery good cause funders Arts Council England, Big Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, and Sport England.
The scheme makes awards of between £300 and £10,000 to grass roots community groups and voluntary organisations.

Lottery award helps home impovements for elderly and disabled

A NATIONAL Lottery award of almost £100,000 has been given to support the work of a West Somerset agency which helps elderly and disabled people to continue living in their own homes.
The SCHIP Home Improvement Agency is receiving £98,205 over three years from the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme.
The grant will fund the SCHIP Fix-it Team, which carries out basic repair and maintenance work around the homes of local disabled and elderly people.
A handyman will be employed to carry out jobs such as changing light bulbs, fitting garb rails, and moving furniture.
It all helps to ensure elderly and disabled people can remain in their own homes for longer, and increases independent living.
The agency was formed as a result of a partnership between West Somerset Council and Sedgemoor District Council.
SCHIP manager Mary Ewing said: “We are delighted with the news.
“The handyperson scheme will be of enormous benefit to vulnerable clients, helping, for example, with emergency repairs and hospital discharge.
“The scheme will also provide opportunities for volunteers and for additional joint working with SCHIP’s many partners.”
Big Lottery Fund head of region for the South West, Mark Cotton, said: “This excellent scheme will put many elderly and disabled people’s minds at ease with the knowledge that there is somebody there who can carry out basic, but much needed repairs around their homes.
“Our Reaching Communities programme is all about supporting local projects like this, which provide a helping hand to some of the most disadvantaged people living in the region.”